Alicia Vikander covers the September issue of ELLE Magazine photographed by David Bellemere and styled by Samira Nasr.

On feeling empowered by Tomb Raider’s action scenes: “I love big popcorn movies. I’ve never done action scenes on this level – not even close. It feels like I’m back to dancing – the training, the intensity. You need to be aware of your movement up in the wires and how your body works. I’ve never been able to lift my own weight, and the day when you have that capacity, it’s pretty empowering!”

On owning the new Lara Croft role: “I thought I was going to have to explain it to my mom, and she was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah—Angelina did that!’ It proves that [Jolie] set a whole tone for that kind of role, so I knew we had to do something very different.”

The sad truth about finding new, challenging roles: “[Complex roles such as that in Hotel] are actually hard to find, which is sad. It’s still—women are written safe.”